The Storm of Broken Heartshards
by Gabriel IX
Summary: Ryoko is sent into a coma by a severe accident. How will Tenchi cope?
1. The accident

Ryoko floated over the road slowly, chewing on a bit of food she had pirated from Tenchi's pantry. She had a small sack slung over her back, containing everything she really owned. Thus, even the size it was, the sack was not very full at all. *that's it then.* she frowned *that's the last time. ever* She had woken up today, and looked back at her life. She looked back and she saw... nothing. Nothing of importance. She was a murderer. A pirate, a troublemaker. *Horrid weak pathetic little fool I am* She never had love, and certainly never had real acceptance. Even her mother had thrown her out like a piece of useless garbage. *Washu. You tried, I'll give you that. But not too hard, mother.*  
  
She was so absorbed in her own thoughts she didn't even see the car. At least not until she noticed she had inadvertently wandered into the road, and the screeching brakes were inches behind her. *how annoying* she thought, reality not quite registering on her. She turned to face the threat, and just then realized that it was moving about seventy miles an hour. Still. The car hit her with more impact than she was ready for, and she was thrown to the ground with a sickening crack. She felt the back of her skull split, and the healing only could do enough to save her from instant death, not the trauma. For when she went unconscious, it would cease to work. *that's it then* she thought to herself, with a short gurgle of a laugh *that's it* *enough damage to put me in a coma* she smiled ruefully.  
  
It was the last thing she thought before the lights went out, and her body succumbed to the pain and laceration. 


	2. Dear Diary

Ryoko had been gone all morning, and Washu was worried. Everything she had was gone. Even her tiny creations she had made from food when she was particularly bored had been taken. It was time to search. She took her backpack and some food, and began to walk down the one road leading away from Tenchi's house. It did not take her more than an hour to find her wayward daughter, tossed like a doll on the roadside, splayed awkwardly as if she had been thrown for more than a few yards. Thankfully, her lifesigns were still readily evident, and no bones were broken, at least not after the healing had taken affect before she went unconscious, but her head was seriously injured, and she could not be woken from her death like state. Washu instantly transported Ryoko back to her lab, and set to work repairing her daughter.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~  
  
"Where's Ryoko?" Tenchi asked abruptly about the time when their lunch began. "And for that matter, where's Washu?"  
  
As if to answer his question, the miniscule genius stepped out of her lab and walked slowly to the table. She sat down without a word, but the tears in her eyes and the evident grief in her face told him everything.  
  
"Washu... Where's Ryoko?"  
  
"In my lab."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"She's... not well. Tenchi, do you know what a coma is?"  
  
"Of course I do! It's... no... No, that can't be." Washu slowly nodded her head, and Tenchi shot up, almost upsetting the table, and streaked into her laboratory. It didn't take him more than a minute to find what he wanted. Ryoko lay comatose in something resembling a glass casket. Her head was the only thing not within, and wires ran from everywhere on her body to a massive machine measuring her life precisely, to the very amount of cells within her. "Ryoko..." whispered, amazed. "Ryoko..."  
  
~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Tenchi ran down the hall as fast as he could. He opened the door to his room and dashed inside with such haste that he accidentally knocked the picture right by his doorway to the floor. He dove into his closet, frantically digging through its contents, looking for something. He tossed everything out onto his floor, disregarding the mess it made entirely, so absorbed was he in his search. Finally, he pulled back from the closet with a sigh. In his hands rested a small brown book. He opened it, and scanned its pages. They were all blank. He sat back on his bed and began to write.  
  
Dear Diary... 


	3. Feelings

First off, I wish to apologize for the massive length of time it took for me to get this chapter up. I was kinda busy for a while.  
  
Anyways, now that that's done with, on with that story!  
  
Tenchi was in his room for over an hour. Neither Washu, nor Ayeka, nor Mihoshi, nor even Sasami could get him to budge from it. His only response to them was, "Busy. Go 'way."  
  
Needless to say, they were worried. However, none of them could come to a conclusion about what he was doing in there. There was no way to look inside the room from within the house, and nobody was tall enough to see into it from the outside. Washu wished to simply use some sort of machine to see, but eventually everyone else convinced her to simply let him be (although Ayeka was almost swayed by Washu's "What if he hurts himself?" argument. She was as worried about him as anyone, but eventually decided that his privacy was most important.). Everyone, at the conclusion of the conversation, decided to do something most calming to their nerves. Everyone, that is except Washu. She dove directly back into her lab to take care of her injured daughter, and told Sasami not to even come in to remind her that dinner was ready, as she was performing some extremely sensitive processes in there, and any sort of disturbance could be disastrous. However, she gave Ayeka a sort of concerned look, as if to let her know that this wasn't the reason at all for her forbidding Sasami from her lab.  
  
"You can come in there to notify me of anything you want. I just..." Washu looked away quickly.  
  
"What?"  
  
"Ryoko... Ryoko's not doing... so well... and if anything were to happen..."  
  
"You wouldn't want Sasami to see. I get it. All right... but I don't know if I can handle something like that either..."  
  
"Don't worry. I'll try to prevent that from ever happening." She turned back to her lab, and Ayeka saw a sparkling drop fall to the floor. Washu ran and slammed the door behind her, and Ayeka leaned down to inspect what had fallen. It was a clear drop of water. The tears of a goddess.  
  
~~~~~~~~~  
  
Tenchi finally re-emerged from his room, and walked down the stairs to the kitchen. Ayeka noticed him almost immediately, and strode purposefully over to him.  
  
"Is there anything I can do, Tenchi?" She asked concernedly. He looked years older, drawn and tired. His eyes seemed... haunted by something, and he didn't quite focus on her face when he talked.  
  
"Ayeka... I... need to talk to Washu." He looked back down at the table, but still, his eyes did not focus quite right.  
  
"Okay... I'll go get her." Ayeka quietly went to Washu's lab and opened the door. A few minutes after she disappeared inside, the small scientist emerged in her stead.  
  
"Hello Washu." He stood slowly, with uncertainty. "How are you?"  
  
"Tenchi... What's wrong?"  
  
He ignored her question entirely. "How is Ryoko?" His unfocused eyes seemed to show all the weight of the world underneath them. "Tell me she's... all right."  
  
"I... can't say she will be. I cannot lie to you. She... She is not doing well at all. If she doesn't dramatically improve soon, she will... she will... die."  
  
Tenchi's entire world came crashing down in that instant. He collapsed to the floor, sobbing like a child. "No. She can't die! Not like this! Not my Ryoko!" Washu moved instantly to comfort him.  
  
"Shh... Hey, it's gonna be okay..." She remembered times like this before, when she had had to comfort poor, little... Ryoko. She looked up from Tenchi for only a second before she was suddenly flooded with memories of her daughter's life, and helplessly, she joined him in tears.  
  
It seemed hours before she could recover herself, but when she did, she was quick to go to his side again. "God... I'm so scared... I don't want her to die this way either, but we have to accept facts, Tenchi. It's... very possible that she might right now." He stood swiftly at Washu's remark, and his eyes suddenly regained their focus. He looked down at Washu with a fire behind his eyes.  
  
"I need to see her." He declared. Before Washu could even react, he was up and out of the room, already within her lab.  
  
~~~~~~~  
  
When he entered the lab, he immediately walked over to Ryoko's side. He found a seat, and pulled it up beside her encasement. He took from his pocket the small brown book he had found in his room, and he began to read.  
  
"Dear Diary,  
  
Today, I was the most frightened I have ever been. Fighting all those enemies, the fear there... That didn't even come close to what I felt today. Today... Today I felt... the possibility of loss. My god... when I saw Ryoko like that... Ryoko, of all people. Strong Ryoko, loyal Ryoko... It shook me to my very foundations. I don't know how I'll even begin to understand what is happening here... How it happened... I can't let you die. I cannot. Ryoko... I feel more for you than I even understand. No, no, I haven't said the word yet... that's because I'm not sure if... if what I feel really is l... that. I'm going to write in this... every day. I will understand. Don't worry. I will understand.  
  
Sincerely,  
  
Tenchi 


End file.
